Membership Corner - May 16, 2016


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Membership Corner: What are the initial steps in a membership effort?
 
By Tom Sturiale
 
While all Rotary clubs are grounded in the same fundamental principles, they differ in size, member profiles and community impact. Let’s consider the membership issues that may occur in some of the smaller clubs and how they may be addressed. Many of these clubs are in sparsely settled suburban areas where long distances prevail, few suitable venues are available, people commute to and from places of employment, and the number of professional and business folks is limited. What is a small club to do?
 
Like the wise man said, “When all else fails, read the instruction book.” Let’s go back to the basics of Rotary by carefully assessing the four objects of Rotary and applying them to our club in question. Paraphrasing them, we have the development of acquaintance or fellowship, high ethical standards, the ideal of service, and international service. Then, we have the Rotary motto of “service above self” as well as the “four-way test.”
 
A first step in a membership effort may include a thorough review of these basic principles to ensure the members clearly understand them and how they will help to guide club members toward achieving their fellowship, community and international-service objectives. This would be a critical club-assessment step to determine where you are as a Rotary club. Your club would assess its efforts in service, community betterment, and The Rotary Foundation support, and then identify areas for improvement. The result would include a history of your club and all its achievements during the past several years. The assessment may include clear targets for improvement and areas where club members may seek help from prospective new members with the necessary talent, expertise and experience.
 
The next step may include an effort to brainstorm all the issues that have hindered membership development in the past. These may include demographics, venues, costs, meeting times, speaker availability, public image, club history, member involvement, meeting agendas, and club enthusiasm, to name a few.  Identifying the problems is the easy part of the exercise.  Now, the objective is to take the issues one at a time and brainstorm all the possible solutions, prioritize them, and act to resolve them.  At first, this will seem like an insurmountable task, but when taken one at a time, every issue and every problem can be solved when enough will and determination is brought to bear.
 
At this point, it may make sense to clearly state your club’s objectives. That is, what is your club trying to go, what would it like to achieve, what does it need to get there, and when would it like to get there. This does not have to be either an extensive or even a long-term plan. But a clear look at the next two or three years will be very helpful. This will be the story you will convey to prospective members as you seek to educate them about Rotary and your club.
 
Now you will be at the point where you have sufficient information and a clearer picture of the near future so you can begin to develop classifications, occupations and/or fields of expertise of folks you would like to attract to your Rotary club. Maybe you would like to have a teacher, a CPA, a salesperson, a banker, a tradesperson, a nurse, a doctor, a town manager or mayor, an insurance agent, a real estate broker, a restaurateur, and/or a group of retirees with any of these skills and capabilities. Make a list, prioritize it, and begin the cold-calling process inviting some of these folks to your club events. Get them to know Rotary, your club and your objectives.
 
Then, ask them whether they would like to become a part of this fantastic, worldwide organization known as Rotary International.
 
Closing thoughts
 
We need to keep experimenting with our meeting agendas to maintain members’ interests and to encourage attendance. Meetings need to be fresh, exciting and interesting. This will also assist your club’s Membership Committee chair and members in attracting new members to the team. Please let me know of your ideas, comments and stories about Membership you would like to share. E-mail me at tsturiale36@gmail.com.
 
April 2016 articles:
 
 
 
 
 
image
 
 
image
 
 
"A Rotary Membership Guide" is a collection of "Membership Corner" articles written for this weekly newsletter during the 2015-2016 Rotary year, which began last July 1. It is intended to offer an idea or thought each week aimed at stimulating discussions, questions and actions to effectively increase membership at all our clubs. Click here, to download this 52-page "Guide," in Word format.
 
 
 
 
For more information on Rotary memberships: